The Evolution of theoretical aspects of the development of history of clavier art of the XVI-XVII centuries

Abstract

Every pianist, an outstanding master performer or just a student, feels the influence of those aesthetic, stylistic, pedagogical, methodical principles of various theoretical directions to which his teachers belonged. Their influence is reflected in the process of teaching to play piano, as well as in the created methodical manuals and theoretical treatises.

This applies both to ancient medieval generalized treatises on music, and to modern specific methodical recommendations for teaching to play the piano. It is natural that not everything in these theoretical works seems logical for the modern reader, some statements of the masters of the past have an echo of ideas that represent an already passed stage of the development of human thought. Something seems outdated at the modern level of the theory of piano pedagogy, both general and professional. But the best ideas of musicians remain relevant for centuries. We always communicate with outstanding artists of different eras as if we were contemporaries, often even as with our closest friends, we can ask advice on difficult questions and always find answers (!), first of all professional ones, for our speciality. Different points of view of prominent figures make it possible to understand the thing in a historical perspective, which in turn warns us against the most common mistakes of our predecessors.

At the end of the Middle Ages and in the era of the early Renaissance, the specificity of teaching clavier was determined by the fact that the main instrument of evolution was the organ that dominated in church music and in everyday life - in the concert halls of palaces, city magistrates, universities, collegiums, lyceums and gymnasiums; later, reduced to a harmonium, entered the small houses of local citizens and village teachers. Almost all clavier music was created for organ, which had the functions of an ensemble, accompanying and solo instrument, and was most suitable for improvisation. Teaching methods are concentrated on the education of organists, during the 16th-18th centuries it takes into account the requirements of musical education of any clavierists, harpsichordists, virginalists, etc. The training of a clavierist was multifaceted: in addition to mastering the specifics of playing the instrument, attention was directed to the education of a versatile musician - a teacher and performer who knows improvisation and composition, skillfully performs and teaches the basics of the craft for an organist-clavierist, for vocal skills (solo singing and choir), for a conductor-concertmaster, ensemble player, choir regent.

In these times, the art of organ and clavier performance is divided into ecclesiastical "spiritual" and secular "civil" art, strict canonical and flexible democratic art, they are also separated in the life of society. The needs of life dictated the tasks of musical education: students, in addition to performing skills, had to master the ability to transpose vocal and orchestral works to clavier (organ), make clavier transcriptions; to decorate the accompaniment and to ornament choral works with "possible and beautiful diminutions" (shredded durations) resembling musical laces. The creation of one's own music existed in two forms: written on paper and in the form of improvisations, from small impromptu pieces to large, developed works of long music-making on themes...

The stage of a unified organ and clavier pedagogy prevailed until the end of the 17th century. And already in the 18th century organ and harpsihord art were clearly and definitively separated from each other. The organ almost does not leave the church doors, and the clavier (in all its national varieties) acquires the status of the main civilian instrument: the harpsihord on the concert stage and the clavicord in domestic music making.

A new stage begins in the history of clavier pedagogy: separated teaching of playing organ and playing clavier. Accordingly, two separate branches of musical-pedagogical skill are developing: separate harpsihord education, which will evolve into piano in the future, and organ education, which has remained in its tradition. However, almost every pianist with a short additional training will successfully play organ, and vice versa, all organists once started learning piano and can play piano pieces.

During the XVII-XVII centuries the objectified renaissance clavier art acquires a subjective style, where the personal traits of the performer are individualized, where it becomes important not only "what and for whom" the musician plays, but also which performer performs. The tradition started at that time exists to this day, when the majority of the audience in a concert/theatre hall wants to listen to a specific performance of this one and not another musician (instrumentalist, vocalist, conductor).

Piano pedagogy was born relatively recently, but it is already more than 200 years old, when the grand piano, replacing the harpsichord, took its place in musical life: on the concert stage, in pedagogy, home music making, ensemble playing, opera accompaniment, etc. Piano learning methods almost immediately acquired a very high level of professional qualification, which is explained by the previous history of the development of art of playing keyboard, first of all, the harpsichord and the organ, the follower and inheritant of which became the grand piano. Therefore, piano pedagogy can be considered one of the further stages of the long-term evolution of the theory and practice of teaching clavier art.

Although the musical repertoire for organ and harpsichord until the 17th century already has separate genre bases (religious-concert large form for organ, dance suites, landscape and portrait miniatures for harpsichord), they constantly interact throughout its existence. In the same way, no matter how different the national creative schools of the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, England, and German city-centers are, everywhere polyphonic genres are headed towards the fugue, and the methods of variational development permeate forms, even purely improvisational (first of all for organ), as toccata and fantasy. Improvisation, which is the main essence of organ art, evolves simultaneously not only with the reorientation of genres, but also with the progressive development of individual national piano schools in the direction of their mutual enrichment. But the conflict between the performing needs and the keyboard instrument of limited capabilities grew and required the invention of a new clavier, which at the beginning of the 18th century becomes a piano.